Following Iowa Hwy. 15 north out of Armstrong leads to Lake Iowa and Lake Iowa Marsh – two public areas nearly identical in shape and size on the Iowa Minnesota border.
“You can make a day of it out here – fish the lake, hunt pheasants, deer or ducks, paddle the lake or marsh - just enjoy the day,” said Lucas Straw, wildlife biologist with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Prairie Lakes-Ingham Wildlife office.
The 823-acre natural lake has a small campground on the south end, with a boat ramp and courtesy dock near a fish cleaning station.
The area south and west of the lake is a work in progress.
The area management plan focuses on invasive species removal and uses practices that encourages potential remnant prairie to return. “There is good deer hunting in this section but it’s pretty wild and wooly getting back there,” said Straw.
He said they are working with Drew Howing, at nearby Iowa Lakes Community College, who is using a drone to map out the invasive honeysuckle for targeted treatment. Howing has been a tremendous partner with the DNR, helping to forward the State’s habitat management goals, while providing his students with hands on experience in the field.
The DNR is also partnering with a local producer who is part of the beginning farmer program to complete some conservation work in the rougher areas, and acres that are not well drained.
“It’s been a good partnership working with him. It’s hard to get equipment in these smaller, odd shaped fields but he gets it done,” Straw said.
A public/private partnership wetland restoration on the southwest corner of the Iowa Lake Complex is scheduled for this fall. This project, led by the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, will permanently flood eight acres, with a flood zone of 12-15 acres. This wetland project will filter 1,557 acres of the Iowa Lake watershed before the water reaches the lake.
On the southwest corner of the lake, separated by a gravel road, is the roughly 100-acre marsh known as Little Iowa Lake. Water enters the main lake through Little Iowa Lake, which has a rough fish problem.
Rough fish stir up nutrients from the bottom and uproot aquatic vegetation creating poor water quality. In 2024, the DNR installed a rock reef to prevent carp from entering Little Iowa Lake and initially the project worked well. Aquatic plants returned, the water cleared, but success was brief.
Carp got back in and water quality declined.
“We’re working with local DNR Fisheries Bureau staff to determine what the next steps are to make it a healthy marsh again,” Straw said.
Pulling up to the south side of the lake and walking out on the courtesy dock, the lake is ringed with trees along shore stretching to the west and east, where a number of homes are on the water’s edge.
“There’s oaks along the shoreline and we’d like to manage for them, but have to get to them first,” Straw said. “We want to do some timber stand improvement here but haven’t got in there yet.”
Walking back to the truck, a fisherman pulled up to the fish cleaning station with a stringer of catfish ready to clean. Fishing had been good, he said with a smile.
Just east of Iowa Lake is Iowa Lake Marsh – a separate system entirely that only joins with Iowa Lake after water flows out of both systems – the lake outlet flows east; the marsh outlet flows north – the combined water flows into Burt Lake.
Iowa Lake Marsh is a rolling wetland, prairie complex that might look similar to what the settlers encountered on their journey across the prairie.
A portion of the marsh and remnant prairie was burned this past spring and has responded well. Sawtooth sunflower, sedges, showy goldenrod, common milkweed, Canada milkvetch, stiff goldenrod, blazing star, gray headed coneflower, wild bergamot and more are showing out on this mid-July morning. The prairie will be inventoried this year.
Straw said staff began converting old grasslands on the marsh into diverse prairie in 2024, starting with 25 acres. He said they’re planning on converting another 40 acres next year.
“We will manage it with fire and then pull the woody shrubs and trees in the early spring, before nesting season,” Straw said.